ACFC, Mindera Partner on Expo Center Robotics Program

The Mastering Robotics and Coding Program was a collaboration between Angel City, Mindera Technology, and the Expo Center where girls and gender-expansive youth ages 13–17 had the opportunity to learn coding and hardware skills in a week-long camp. Over the course of four days, students worked in small groups to build, program, and test drones that they showed off in a culminating exhibition.

For many of the participants, these programs are their first real exposure to robotics. 

“It wasn’t something I was interested in before, honestly,” said Jayme Pollard. “But once I started doing it, it’s fun, especially because you're doing it with your peers and your friends. I also learned a lot about patience, and I got to make cool robots that actually moved.”

“It was definitely intimidating at first,” Pollard continued. “But [our instructors] showed us and taught us how to do it, in a way that was still hands-on—we had to figure it out ourselves, so we learned a lot.”

In addition to funding the program through Angel City’s 10% Model—where 10% of all sponsorship dollars are reallocated back into the community—Mindera was instrumental in developing the curriculum for this program in collaboration with Expo Center Recreation Coordinator David Armenta. The company also provided staff to serve as mentors and instructors in the program, including Robert Martin, their US Code Academy director.

Armenta started the Expo Center’s robotics program in 2022 to fill what he saw as a gap in the city’s rec center programming for teens. “This type of programming doesn’t exist at most rec centers,” he said. “I wanted to do something that would challenge them and teach them about different career opportunities.”

“I feel like a lot of us didn't know that there were all these different types of careers in STEM,” said Sarina Ross. “I feel like this broadened our horizon, because we didn't know that all these [careers] existed.”

Pollard and Ross both live near the Expo Center, as do most of the other participants, according to Armenta.

“Around here, you ask kids what they want to be when they grow up, and they say a teacher or a coach,” he said. “Because that’s what they see around them. They might not know about the different opportunities in STEM fields.”

At the same time, the program gives students who aren’t necessarily interested in STEM careers a chance to explore. “Math isn’t my favorite subject,” said Pollard, “but it was nice to try something I wasn’t used to.”

The program is also a great opportunity for students to practice soft skills. “I didn't really know a lot of the people when I started,” said Ross. “At first you don’t know the different personalities, or who might be a leader. People will get frustrated at some point and be like, ‘no, you should do this, and I'm gonna do this,’ or someone might not want to do a lot of work. So it tests you on how you handle those situations.”

Pollard says learning these skills tests one quality above all: patience. “There was a time where we had to restart our whole robot because we put the body on backwards,” she remembers. “And we still had a deadline. So we’d have to stay back a little late to finish it, or when we came in the next day, we couldn't mess around at all. That helped me a lot with my patience, especially with working with other people.”

Being in a classroom with other girls and nonbinary youth was empowering, the students added. “Statistically, more people in robotics or STEM in general are men,” said Ross. “I feel like when you see a whole group of women doing this together, it feels better because you know that it's not just you alone who wants to be a part of it.”

Most of the participants in the summer camp were alumni of the Introduction to Robotics and Coding Program, a collaboration between Angel City, the Expo Center, and QuickenLoans that was held in the spring of this year. Mastering Robotics and Coding was an opportunity for those students to build on what they learned in the spring.

Over the course of the week, participants learned about drone and hardware assembly, the basics of the Python programming language, drone flight dynamics and flight controller setup, and drone programming and its importance for executing precise flight maneuvers. Altogether, the 22 students in the program each received 20 hours of education.

On Friday, students showed off their work in an exhibition at the historic John C. Argue Swim Stadium.